by Holly Jacobs
So Chuck would go to dinner and make nice for a couple hours.
He was welcome to bring a date, his mom had said.
It had been a while since he broke up with his last girlfriend, Patty. She was nice enough and they’d gotten along fine, but there was no spark. No chemisty.
Besides, he’d seen too many relationships fail. Hell, he’d had what he thought was a long-term relationship with Ami when he’d joined the department at twenty-three. And she hadn’t lasted a year. She hated the fact he worked swing shifts, and had odd days off.
But now his mother had vowed to find him a woman…unless he found one himself.
He just needed a body.
A female body.
Not necessarily someone he was dating, just someone to come to a dinner and get his mom off his back for a while.
As he reflected on his mother’s New Year’s resolution for him, he still watched across the street. What the hell was Carly doing?
She’d walked to the gazebo in the middle of the park and was kneeling by a homeless guy who was sitting on the steps.
Chuck was up, out of his chair, and hurrying through the private door that opened directly onto South Park Row and the Square.
What on earth was the crazy woman thinking approaching a stranger? Obviously, thinking wasn’t her strongest suit. After all she did torch her neighborhood. Okay, accidentally, but still…
He was so annoyed he hardly took note of the cold wind blowing in off the lake or the fact that he was freezing because he hadn’t paused to put a coat on. He caught Carly just as she was walking away from the guy toward the line of parked cars. “What were you thinking?”
She stopped short, looked up and made a face as if she’d bitten into a lemon. “Pardon?”
“I asked what were you thinking? You don’t just go talk to strangers in the park.”
“And if I said he wasn’t a stranger?” Her arms crossed, clutching the file to her chest as she tapped her foot.
Chuck didn’t need any major insight to realize she was annoyed. That didn’t faze him in the least. He was annoyed, too. And he’d match his annoyance to hers any day. “I’d say he still doesn’t look like a very savory character.”
“And I’d say mind your own business. Your crazy brother-in-law said I had to help with your safety thing, and I will, but that’s where our relationship ends. And it so happens that I was finishing my rotation at the ER last month when Mr. Deever came in. I wanted to say hi and see how he was doing, not that it is in any way your business, and even if it were, I still wouldn’t permit you to take that tone with me. Save the cop tone for cop business.”
“If you’d been assaulted in the park, it would have been cop business.”
“It’s broad daylight, no one was assaulting me but you.” She looked meaningfully at her arm.
Chuck hadn’t realized he’d grabbed her arm. He dropped his hand immediately. “Sorry. You scared me.”
“What, a woman who accidentally burns down a few sheds becomes such a big danger to herself and the community that you have to worry?”
“I—” What was it about this woman? She was turning him into a blathering idiot, and to date, the only other woman with that capability was his mother.
An idea started to form.
It was a crazy thought—one he’d hesitate to mention to any other woman but Carly, who’d already shown that she did crazy quite well. “I have an idea.”
Carly shook her head. “Men and kids…it’s never a good thing when either has an idea.”
“You see, I need a date.”
“Whoa, there, boy. That’s not going to happen. Ever. Never.” She paused a moment, then added, “And if that wasn’t clear enough, no. Absolutely not. I’ve already decided I’ll never marry again, but I haven’t ruled out dating. However, I’m officially ruling out dating you. I have made a list of what I’m looking for in a man I date, though. And you don’t possess any of the qualities I’d want.”
Chuck wished he’d grabbed his coat. It was freezing outside, but it was Carly’s attitude that was truly arctic.
He should take her rather emphatic no and go in. Instead, he found himself asking, “Such as?”
“If I date, I’d want a quiet man. One who wouldn’t tell me what I should or shouldn’t do. One who would allow me to stand on my own two feet because I guarantee that I won’t be relying on a man ever again. Someone compatible. Nice even. One who doesn’t mind kids and pets.”
Just turn and walk away, he told himself, and instead asked, “And how do you know I’m not that man?”
“May I remind you that we’ve only met on two occasions, and still you felt you had the right to come running and be sure I wasn’t assaulted by a patient? That whole wouldn’t-tell-me-what-I-should-and-shouldn’t-do? You blew that. And the quiet thing? I’ll confess, I don’t see that in you either.”
“Maybe I like kids and pets, and some people think I’m nice.” He wasn’t sure why he was pushing. He absolutely didn’t want to date this woman for real. She was all bristles and snarls. He liked softer women.
Carly Lewis was all edges.
She snorted at his I’m-nice statement. That sort of raised his hackles. “Listen, I simply thought it might be a win-win situation.”
“Who’d win what?” she asked.
“I’d come to Sunday dinner with a woman in tow, so my mom wouldn’t begin her New Year’s resolution campaign and start fixing me up.”
“Okay there’s a win for you, but I don’t see one for me. So, no thanks.” She shook her head and started walking toward the cars.
Chuck followed her. “I’d say a nice meal that you don’t have to cook—Mom’s a good cook.”
She glanced behind her and shook her head again. “I can get take-out just as easy if I don’t want to cook.”
The head-shaking thing was starting to get to him. He wanted to tell her if she continued shaking it that hard she was going to shake her few remaining brain cells loose, but he didn’t think that would endear him to her, so he bit his tongue. “But that wasn’t my big win for you. Your big win would be the fact that Andy will be there. And having spent the last few minutes in your company, I can only imagine how hard it was for you to bite your tongue in his courtroom. And you had to bite it because he’s the judge. But at my mother’s table, you’re both guests. You’d have free rein to make his life—well at least his dinner—miserable.”
That made her stop. As she turned to face him, there was a twinkle in her dark-brown eyes that said she rather liked the idea. “And you’d be on my side? No threats to haul me off to jail or anything?”
“If you’re on my side and therefore against my mother as my own personal matchmaker, then you’ve got an ally against Andy.” His brother-in-law was his best friend, but he still owed Andy for making sure the picture of him dressed up as a cowboy found it’s way onto the police department’s bulletin board. Chuck still got an occasional “yippee” from the guys. He could see that Carly was wavering, so he threw in, “And, of course, your kids are welcome, too.”
“They’re with their father next weekend.” Her frown spoke volumes.
“Is there a problem with him and the kids? I could—”
“No, nothing like that.” This time she shook her head softly. “It’s just…the secretary he was boffing on my couch?”
How on earth could he forget that particular story? He nodded.
“She’s moved in with him. So she’s there on the weekends he has the kids. I’ve got a friend who’s actually friendly with her ex’s new girlfriend, and I’ve tried to emulate her and be forgiving. I’ve tried to be adult about it. But I’ve found I’m not able to be. I put on a good front for the kids, though. They don’t need to feel caught in the middle. But honestly, I don’t think the fire purged all of my bitterness as I’d intended. Maybe the fact I was worried about burning down the neighborhood overtook its purging effect.”
“I don’t know anyone who’d recover completely from something
like that,” Chuck assured her. “You’re a good mom not putting the kids in the middle.”
“You sound surprised.”
Chuck was pretty sure he had the beginning of frostbite on his hands. He tried to keep his teeth from chattering as he answered, “In my line of work, I’ve found most divorced couples spend so much time hating each other they rarely have time to spare a thought for their kids and what the animosity is doing to them.”
Carly cocked her head to the side, studying him. She let out a long, low whistle. “Lieutenant, you are officially even more jaded than me.”
He didn’t take offense because she was right. Instead, while she was looking less defensive, he asked, “So, dinner on Sunday at five?”
No head shaking this time…she nodded instead. “I have to be home by nine when my ex drops off the kids.”
“That’s a yes?”
“Good that you’re in charge of PR and not a detective if that’s the best you can do. Yes, it’s a yes, Lieutenant. Just don’t get any ideas that this is more than me taking advantage of an opportunity to needle ‘Andy—’” she used his nickname for his brother-in-law with obvious delight “—without being tossed in jail for contempt.”
He held up his hand and made a scout sign. “I swear, no illusions of us liking each other. And it might be best if you started calling me Chuck instead of Lieutenant. I’ll pick you up at four-thirty.”
“Fine, Chuck.” She started walking toward the row of cars lining the Square and moved toward a van.
It was a very mommish vehicle. If he’d chosen, he’d have said Carly drove a Jeep. Tough, able to go off-road, take a beating and still get her where she wanted to go. Yet, there she was getting in a van. A soft, mommish van.
“Hey, I need an address,” he called before she got in.
“You’ve got that on file, too,” she repeated. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
He watched her exit her parking space and head around the Square. He would very definitely figure it out.
When he heard Andy’s claim in the courtroom, Chuck had been less than enthusiastic. But after today, the January Safety Awareness Program was looking to be a lot more interesting than he’d anticipated.
January
“SAMANTHA, I HAVE NO idea why I said yes,” Carly said on Friday as she trailed after Samantha from examination room to examination room.
She’d seen healthy kids who’d come in for immunizations and check-ups, kids with flu, kids with scrapes, breaks and the occasional mystery rash. It was so nice of Dr. Jackson to let her shadow Samantha today. But rather than concentrating on what nursing in a pediatric practice was like, all she could think about was her dinner with Chuck’s family in two days.
Samantha ignored Carly’s rhetorical question as she stood at a nurses’ station and updated the chart from the last patient, five-year-old Jessie, who’d come in with a BB in her ear. “Are the kids going with you? They could come have dinner at my place, if you’d like.”
“They’ll be at their dad’s. I take them over right after school tonight, and he’ll bring them back Sunday night by nine. So they’re no problem.”
“Well, then, there you go.” Samantha went back to work on the file. “You’re single, the kids are accounted for. There was absolutely no reason not to say yes.”
“Except I don’t like Chuck at all. It’s not a real date, he made that clear, and sure, I’m relieved, because he’s nothing like the man I’ll date when I start to date again.”
Samantha paused and looked up. “You’ve given this some thought.”
“Sure. When I date again—and despite the fact it doesn’t sound the least bit appealing right now, I suspect it will again someday—when that day comes, I want someone who’s the antithesis of Dean. Loyal, quiet. Someone who doesn’t mind my independence, and is independent himself. The lieutenant is anything but quiet, and he’s bossy. You should have seen his office. It almost made Sean’s room look neat, and that’s hard to do.”
“Well, see, you’re just a cover. No worries. A free meal, some adult conversation. It’s win-win. And of course, there’s the chance to needle the judge.”
Carly grinned at the thought. “Yeah, there is that.”
“So relax.” Samantha deposited the updated file in a basket, and grabbed the next one. “I’m sure you’re right and it’s nothing.”
“Okay, you’re right.” She felt better. More centered. Samantha was like that. She mothered everyone, and Carly wouldn’t have admitted it out loud, but she’d needed that today. It was at a moment like this that losing her parents kicked her all over again, even after all these years.
“So, about the Valentine’s dance?” Samantha said, changing the subject. “How’s that coming? Did you get a band or DJ? Michelle and I are here to offer whatever help you need.”
“I figured we’d just set up an iPod station with speakers all over. I know that Sean and his buddies did something like that for a party and the kids loved doing their own music.”
“Kids?”
Carly nodded. “At the dance.”
“Carly, did you look at the file Michelle gave you?”
“Not yet. I mean, with finals, graduation, work and interning, not to mention my brush with the law, I haven’t had much time. It was on my list for this week. It’s barely January and I’ve got until February. How hard can it be? You and Michelle got the two hardest events.”
“Carly, the dance isn’t for the kids. It’s for the adults. All the parents of current students and alumni of the school. Pretty much anyone who will pay for the ticket. A fund-raiser that’s practically a mini-reunion. If you’d read the file, you’d have seen that the PTA voted to change it last year.”
“But…I mean…” Last year was a haze. She’d been so unbelievably busy and missed a lot of meetings. “I must have missed that discussion and vote last year.”
Missing PTA meetings was definitely something she’d avoid in the future. Nothing good ever came from missing a PTA meeting. She had the folder Michelle had given her, but she’d only given it a cursory glance because she knew she couldn’t really work on the dance until January, and hadn’t anticipated it being a big deal.
“You’re sure about the adult thing?” she asked, weakly.
“Positive.”
“Seriously, I want to know what I’ve done in my past to anger the universe. I am a woman who doesn’t believe in romance, but I figured the dance wasn’t a problem because it was for the kids. I’d bring in a sound system for them, throw up a few paper streamers, and have some snacks on hand, and I’d be done. But adults? Happy couples all over the place dancing and making googly Valentine eyes at each other? I’m going to hurl worse than that kid in Exam Two.”
“Michelle and I will help,” Samantha promised.
Carly knew that Samantha meant her offer, but rather than just accepting or declining she groused. “You and Michelle will be two of the worst—”
“Googly-eyed couples?” Samantha’s grin said she wasn’t insulted in the least.
“Yeah.”
“Sorry.” Samantha didn’t look the least bit apologetic, either.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Carly assured her. “I’m happy for you and Harry and for Michelle and Daniel, but…” She shook her head. “A Valentine’s dance for adults, and dinner with my warden and the judge who sentenced me. My life continues its downhill spiral.”
“Well, the good news is you’ve got nowhere to go but up.”
Carly snorted. Samantha had been a unending font of optimism since they’d met. She claimed it was all because of some book, but Carly suspected that Samantha was at heart a Pollyanna.
If there was an antithesis of Pollyanna, that’s what Carly was.
Planning an adult Valentine’s dance was a lot different than planning something for kids. What an idiot to not have known that this was a grown-up affair and fund-raiser?
An adult Valentine’s dance.
She’d suspected that
the universe hated her since the moment she’d found her husband with his secretary.
Now she was sure.
Chapter Three
Chuck kicked the snow off his boots as he walked up the steps to Carly’s porch and knocked on the door of the small, story-and-a-half bungalow on Erie’s east side that Sunday.
As a cop he had a feel for most neighborhoods. This one was soundly middle-class. Quiet for the most part. The kind of place where the police were usually called out for nothing more serious than barking dogs or loud parties. It was a great neighborhood for raising a family.
Carly opened the door and frowned. “You found me.”
“Wow, lucky thing I have a healthy ego, otherwise that greeting might have done some damage.”
“I don’t see any chance of any long-term damage to your ego.” She opened the door a little wider and let him into a very bright foyer. Not bright because of any out-of-character sunshine. Erie was overcast more often than not this time of year. And today was a more-often day.
No, it was bright because of the cacophony of color. Bright-yellow walls. A coat rack that had the whole array of crayon colors. Red. Blue. Green. Orange. Down one side of the door was a collection of nicely framed prints of impressionist art, and down the other side was a huge mirror that reflected the foyer back on itself.
The small entryway might have been too much in another house, but because it was Carly’s, it seemed appropriate. Inviting even—though he doubted she’d meant any invitation for him. Especially given her you’ve-got-a-big-ego comments.
“Ouch again. This is going to be an interesting night.” Hopefully interesting enough to get his mother to forget his single status.
“Do you want to cancel?” There was a tone to her voice that said his wanting to cancel wouldn’t be the worst news she’d ever received.
“No,” he said. Her face fell, so he asked, “Do you?”
Rather than answer, she countered with, “This plan of yours doesn’t sound very—I don’t know—coply. I mean, you guys are supposed to be brave and tough. Taking a decoy date because you’re scared of your mother smacks of something less than that.”
